Buddy Clinton — According to bacharachonline.com, the recording was issued in 1960 on Monroe 114, b/w “Joanie’s Forever.” Serene Dominic gives the same label and catalog number, and dates the release November 1960. However, 45cat.com indicates that it was issued in December 1960 on Madison M-144, with the same B-side. “Buddy Clinton” is a pseudonym adopted by the songwriter Clint Ballard, Jr.

Buddy Clinton — issued in November 1960 on Monroe 114, as the B-side of “Take Me to Your Ladder”

.

.

My Joanie’s foreverWas less than a weekShe loved me on FridayBy Monday we didn’t even speak

Joanie’s foreverIs only one love scene‘Cause Joanie’s foreverIs a word she doesn’t mean

She’s yours for the momentBut don’t play the foolYou’ll find out she’s heartlessThat Joanie, oh, she’ll break every rule

(Repeat second section)

She doesn’t mean ’til the end of timeShe doesn’t mean ’til the seas run dry *If you believe what she says on FridayBy Monday your heart will cry

Joanie’s forever

* The lyric provided by Bacharachonline.com has “seas run dry” where Clinton sings “sea runs dry” on the recording. Also, instead of “By Monday” in the last line of the lyric as it appears at Bacharachonline, Clinton sings “On Monday.”

Dick Van Dyke — A commenter on the video (at Youtube) says that the record charted in March 1961, entering (he thinks) the week of 6 March at #30.

_____________________

Sinner’s Devotion (Burt Bacharach & Bob Hilliard)

A previously unreleased 1961 demo recording by Tina Robin was released on the 2009 compilation Rare Bacharach: The Early Years 1958-1965. However, according to the “Selected Discography” at bacharachonline.com, the Shirelles recorded the song first, as a demo (unreleased). Tammy Montgomery [née Thomasina Winifred Montgomery], later known as Tammi Terrell, also recorded it in 1961, with the Shirelles on back vocals.

The provider suggests that the Terrell with the Shirelles recording in the first video below was found on a 1967 Chuck Jackson & Tammi Terrell LP, The Early Show. However, it was released as early as 1965 on The Sound of Bacharach(Pye International).

According to Spectropop.com, a 2000 CD issue of The Sound of Bacharach includes the following information in its booklet:

With Chuck Jackson and Tammi Terrell then both recently-signed by Motown, the Wand label trawled their tape vaults for six tracks by each artist which they combined to form the 1967 “The Early Show” album. Cut some five or six years earlier, when she was in her mid-teens and known as Tammy Montgomery, this adult number is one of the tragic star’s very earliest recordings and features the Shirelles on backing vocals, which might intimate that an unissued version by that group awaits discovery. Boasting another excellent lyric by Bob Hilliard and a typically big budget Ludix production, “Sinner’s Devotion” is often overlooked by Bacharach discographers.

__________________

Tammy Montgomery (Tammi Terrell) with the Shirelles — 1961

The second line of the lyric sung by Terrell is usually given as

We’ll have our play

I hear this line differently. The opening lines appear to be

I know it’s wrong and yet Ooh, have I played A sinner’s devotion

.

In Tina Robin’s unreleased demo, she clearly sings “craved” in the second line, where Terrell apparently sings “played.” Robin’s first chorus begins

I know it’s wrong and yet Oh, how I’ve craved A sinner’s devotion

The corresponding lines in the second chorus go:

That’s how it must turn out For those who crave [Robin] For those who play [Terrell] A sinner’s devotion

Tina Robin – unreleased 1961 demo; eventually released on the 2009 compilation Rare Bacharach – The Early Years 1958 – 1965

.

The Answer to Everything (Burt Bacharach & Bob Hilliard)

Del Shannon – 1961; B-side to “So Long Baby”

.

David Alexander — probably from the 1979 single Ace Recordings (UK) ACE 79104, b/w “You and the Looking Glass” — available on The Best of David Alexander, Volume Two, 1996

“Any Day Now” is a revision of a Bacharach & Hilliard song called “Lover” which was recorded by Tommy Hunt earlier in 1962, but left unreleased.

Chuck Jackson — recorded under the title “Any Day Now (My Wild Beautiful Bird),” and issued in March 1962 on Wand 122, b/w “The Prophet” — The single was released in April 1962, and after entering the Hot 100 on 28 April it climbed to a peak chart position of #22.

Marlena Shaw – issued in August 1967 on Cadet 5571, as the B-side of “Brother Where Are You” (Oscar Brown, Jr.)

.

Burt Bacharach and Trijntje Oosterhuis – 11 July 2009 at the North Sea Jazz Festival

.

Little Betty Falling Star (m. Burt Bacharach, w. Bob Hilliard)

Gene Pitney introduced the song on the 1962 Musicor LP Only Love Can Break A Heart (also released on The Many Sides Of Gene Pitney, 1962)

.

The Cascades – 1964, RCA-Victor 47-8321

.

Mexican Divorce (m. Burt Bacharach, w. Bob Hilliard)

The Drifters — issued in February 1962 in the US on Atlantic 45-2134, as the B-side of “When My Little Girl is Smiling” (Goffin & King); issued in the UK in March 1962, with the sides reversed, on London (UK) HLK 9522

.

Jay and the Americans – unreleased, 1962

.

Busting Prince Buster
Songwriting credit is incorrectly given solely to “C. Campbell” on the label of this 1967 disc credited to reggae band “Teddy King & Busters All Stars” (the latter aka Prince Buster’s All Stars). C. Campbell is Cecil Bustamante Campbell, better known as Prince Buster. Discogs lists also the following aliases: Jamaica Greatest, Judge Dread “used in the late 1960[s] when recording anti-rudeboy songs,” and Muhammed Yusef Ali.

Trying to steal a song from Burt Bacharach, eh Prince? I call it Madness.

Phil Colbert — issued in August 1965 on Philips 40313, b/w “The Long Long Tunnel” (Freddie Scott, Helen Miller); both sides arranged by Horace Ott and produced by Hal Mooney

The copyright registration number and date as given at copyrightencyclopedia.com is EP0000209430 / 1965-11-05, though the song was probably written in 1962. As Serene Dominic suggests in his book Burt Bacharach: Song by Song, “Who’s Got the Action” may have been submitted for consideration, or written under contract, and rejected for a Dean Martin film of the same name released in 1962. Martin recorded a different song, a bit of fluff, with the same title for the film. However, there is at least one known instance of Bacharach co-writing a song using a film’s title and story after viewing the completed film. He and Hal David did so with “The Hangman” in 1959. As far as I know, Bacharach didn’t write with Hilliard after 1962. This is the only recording of the song that I’m aware of. — comments by doc

_______________________

Who’s Got the Action (m. Burt Bacharach, w. Bob Hilliard)

Searching and longingFor something specialSomething to go with the mood I’m inLose or winWhere are the thrills that I’m dreaming about constantly

Tell me who’s got the actionWho’s got the action for me

Watching and waitingFor some excitementSomething to go with the things I feelSomething realI want the wind to blow all of the leaves off my tree

Tell me who’s got the actionWho’s got the action for me

I’ll take chances I’ll put my life on the lineAnything to fill these empty arms of mineThat’s why I’m…

Restless, and reachingFor something extraSomething to go with the mood I’m inLose or winLove of my life, tell me where is the world end to be

On 24 February 2012, I looked for the lyric to “Who’s Got the Action” without success. The title is missing from a couple of major Bacharach lyric collections (See the links at the bottom of my Burt Bacharach Index). Several general Google searches using significant lines or phrases turned up only a couple of lines in the online Santa Cruz (CA) Public Libraries sheet music catalog. So I transcribed the words that day. Colbert enunciates very clearly.